The New Zealand Rugby Union announced a $A288,000 profit for the 2008 financial year and said it was satisfied with its performance.

The profit, announced Thursday, compared with a $A1.34 million loss in the 2007 year, and followed the payment of $A3.08 million to New Zealand's 26 provincial unions to cushion them against difficult economic conditions.

NZRU chief executive Steve Tew said the profit was a strong result in the current economic environment and given the challenging conditions facing all sports.

A larger profit was expected but the result was impacted by the weakening of the British pound in the last weeks of the year.

"We hold a significant amount of reserves in British pounds against the payment we will make to the IRB for Rugby World Cup 2011 and in line with reporting requirements these funds have to be revalued at the end of each financial year," Tew said in a statement. "Unfortunately, the late fall in the pound eroded the value and had a significant impact on our final result.

"While we have a number of significant challenges, the NZRU remains on a very solid footing which is encouraging given the global economic climate."

The union gave itself a rating of 78 out of 100 on its annual scoreboard, based on the performance of national teams and on financial and other criteria, compared with a 52 in 2007.

Tew said the All Blacks had won every competition and trophy available to them, beating England and Ireland twice, winning the Tri-Nations and Bledisloe Cups and capturing a third Grand Slam of wins against British and Irish teams in the UK.

The New Zealand Maori won the Pacific Nations Cup, the New Zealand under-20 team won the inaugural Junior World Cup, the New Zealand women's team beat Australia in a two-test series and New Zealand won the IRB world sevens title for the eighth time.

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